The People

It is by no coincidence that I ended up coming to Ghana.  It was strong answers to prayers, and a series of miracle after miracle that I was able to come and for that I will be forever grateful.

     

I am going to miss walking by saying “Good morning” as they smile with bundles of goods on their heads and a baby on their back, hearing the kids “Obroni, Obroni”, at the stations hearing “plantain” or “pure water”, squeezing in the taxi or tro tro and seeing the expressions on their faces, the delicious red red, fufu and all of the food, hearing the roosters, goats, and chickens day and night, walking in the bush, fresh fruit, markets, fabric, seeing the impossible be possible, the beautiful jungles and the list continues.  But whenever people ask, “What is your favorite part of Ghana?” there is no question about it.  The people.  I have never met more charitable, loving, grateful, friendly, happy and humble people.  No one is perfect, but we all can do our best.  I pray that these people will be blessed because they have changed my life in more ways than they will ever know.  Truly they have given me a perspective on life that has changed me as a person.

Coming to Ghana is like looking at the big picture of life.  Getting caught up in the day to day rat race sometimes it is easy to forget, but when you have so little and rely on the Lord so much life is very different. 

Today I am in Ghana and after a 30 hour flight, I will be back in the USA.  But as I land in the USA I will have Ghana in my heart forever.  

Safari in Mole!

Whenever someone thinks of Africa they usually think of safaris, Lion King, or something along that line.   However, lucky for Ghana, although it is in West Africa, Mole National Park does have animals!  I dreamed to go see the elephants despite the far far travel.  So after a lot of convincing, we took the trip!  I was praying we would actually see elephants and it would not end up like our excursion to see (or should I say not see) turtles on Cape Three Point.  After a FAR journey to the north, a total of about 40 hours of travel in 72 hours, we saw elephants!  I’m pretty sure I was even smiling in my sleep I was so happy to see them.  Not only did we see elephants we saw crocodiles, antelope, monkeys, Timon and Pumbas, and other wildlife.  Looking at the pictures they seem fake, but its true we were that close to wild elephants!  The guide wouldn’t let me actually touch them, but I suppose for being with wild elephants that is probably a good idea.  It was so fun to see the rest of Ghana also because the north is a completely different place.  So now not only is my blog just called “My Life is a Safari”…I have been on a safari!

Holding my hand in the air was the closest I could get...

Our Work!

The whole purpose in coming to Ghana, Africa was under the SEED Program Internship.  SEED stands for Social Enterprise Education Development, and we teach basic business to mostly illiterate adults in the villages for 10 weeks, help them form a business plan, to be analyzed if they should get a micro loan to expand or start their business.  Due to the fact that most students do not read , write, or speak English, we have translators for the classes. 

We funded the loans at the end of March after a long process of determining who should qualify for the loans.  It was so great to see these people receive something they would never have otherwise gotten to hopefully improve their life!  What a great experience to be a part of! 

We have been keeping a blog on behalf of this work that can be found at http://wasatchsvghana.blogspot.com/

I Love to See the Temple and Akwaaba Margaret!

Traveling to Accra this past weekend was especially fun because we got to go to the temple!  It was absolutely beautiful and a great experience.  Because there are so few temples in Africa, Ghana is lucky to have one. 

After going to the temple, we spent many many hours in the largest market in Accra.  Blocks of bargaining!  “I give you good price”, “I have something special for you”, “Oh beautiful Obroni, come”, “Sweet baby girl, come”, and on and on…but the game of bargaining is very fun!  And standing in the block of fabric shop after shop in a small alley I thought I had died and gone to heaven. 

We were also able to go to the beach again!  Or should I say fried at the beach.  But, we had a great time playing futbol, swimming in the ocean, collecting shells, getting buried in the sand, and even building a sandcastle with some children. 

At church on Sunday we happened to run into a couple missionary from Utah State!  They were so kind and invited us over to dinner.  It was really fun to meet them.  Even here in Ghana it’s a small world and the Lord is blessing us with miracles!  They are actually coming out to Abomosu with some students in May so we are very excited for them to experience the bush! 

To finish off the trip, we welcomed Mama Abu back from her travel to the US!!!  We are so so happy to have finally met Margaret.  She is the sweetest lady and her and Stephen together just make me smile.  They truly are the most charitable individuals. 

Here’s to the last week of being in my teens!

Cape Coast Traveling Extravaganza!

The adventures just get more and more exciting!  Last week traveling to Cape Coast and Cape Three Point- we enjoyed so much!

Journey to the Center of the Earth at Cape Three Point:

Wednesday night we took the midnight bus out of Abomosu to travel to Cape Three Point.  13 hours later, 2 buses and 2 tro tros we were dropped in paradise on the beach!  Let me paint the picture for the last tro tro…me on the 3^rd bench pressed up against the side that although the whole thing is steel is wobbling and I’m pretty sure the tro tro was disinigrating…the woman next to me chomping on banku and then fell asleep with the chewing stick in her mouth on me, our knee caps jammed on the seat, my feet got real hot on the 13 hour journey and swelled lots, our backpacks on our laps, heads to the roof and the road REALLY rough…struggling up every hill.  We couldn’t stop laughing.  And couldn’t believe this so called resort on the beach was close…but alas!  It was! 

Yes.  I did take this photo.  A shot of Cape Three Point from Green Turtle Lodge!

Green Turtle Lodge was really nice, on the private beach at Cape Three Point, the closest to the center of the earth you can get (I think it was 4 degrees and 2 degrees).   The food was British/Ghanaian and delicious!  We stayed in a small hut on the beach, literally though ON THE BEACH for 2 nights.  We took a morning canoe ride from the small village 20 min walk down the beach on a river, and played in the ocean all day.  I even convinced them to build a sandcastle and I can now check off my list being buried by sand.  The next night Ashley and I decided to take the so called turtle night hike.  So for 2 hours we walked on the beach to find the turtles with the guide but there were no turtles…we should have named it the crab hike because there were hundreds of crabs EVERYWHERE.  Only if we should be lucky we would have seen turtles…but of course they didn’t tell us that before we went on the hike…haha All in all though, we had a great time!

Self timer FINALLY worked!

 

Morning Canoe Ride!

Our hut at Green Turtle Lodge

Green Turtle Lodge

Cape Coast:

Cape Coast Castle

Saturday after leaving Cape Three Point we came back to Cape Coast where we would meet Karson and Chelsea that had been at the temple with the young adults all over Ghana with Karsons companions.  We got to Cape Coast earlier than they arrived so we decided to explore the markets and go to the famous Cape Coast castle. The castle has a lot of history we learned with the tour as it was where they kept all of the slaves.  Obama came there a couple years ago, and everyone here loves Obama so they told us when he came they all had shops all over that were Obama shops.  Anyways, we got to do a bit of shopping or should I say bargaining! 

Sunday Dinner on the Beach

Some of the group at Kakum, (the ones that weren't scared and already finished)!

We stayed in Cape Coast at the University of Cape Coast with members as that is where Karson’s past mission companion is attending school.  It was just like being back home at school except Ghanaian style!  Each of us stayed with someone different and so we all had different experiences.  I stayed with Tasha in a very nice hostel.  Right after arriving that night to Tasha’s, we went to a party at one of the hostels!  They had a fashion show, I had ice cream for the first time in Ghana!, danced, fireworks, and met lots of her friends.  Sunday we all went to church and it was so enjoyable.  Tasha loves the children so some sit on her lap during church so the cutest little boy John sat on my lap for part of church.  He was one of the most energetic little African boys I have met, but talking with his mother she told me the miracle story behind him that was very humbling.  After church Gwen cooked all afternoon for a big group of us to go to the beach in the evening.  We played on the beach and ate dinner and had a great time!  Monday we went to Kakum National Park, rope bridges in the jungle that are about 100 feet up that you can walk through.  We took a whole tro tro full between the students and us and I couldn’t stop laughing.  That driver has probably never been on that kind of an adventure with everyone that knew each other joking the whole time.  To top it off, Karson proposed to Chelsea on one of the rope bridges!  Monday night we traveled back to Accra to stay the night until the morning when we continued to the bush (Abomosu) before class.

It was such a great extra-long weekend and full of so many stories, but the part that is hard to write about is the people, the best part.  That is why I like traveling.  Every day I am grateful for the opportunity I have been blessed with to come here.   It really has changed my life and given me a perspective I would not otherwise had.  One man told us, it’s ironic that Ghana is considered an underdeveloped country because it’s the developed countries that have lost traditions such as religion and family.  Not just saying prayers, or going to church once and a while, but literally everything is because of God.  Even in the extreme levels of poverty they are experiencing they are happy, really happy.  They are truly genuine people, real people.    And that is the culture of Ghana!

Traditional Wedding Adventure!

waiting to load up tro tro number two...

After attending Ghanaian funerals I didn’t think it would get more exciting but oh yes it does…Last weekend we were invited to a traditional engagement (wedding) of one of the teachers at the primary school we volunteer for.  We traveled with two of the teachers to the grooms house on Friday night on the bus to stay in his compound until the morning when we would travel to Tema (just outside the capital) where the wedding would be.  The bus ride was a blast and I told Dennis, a teacher, he was experiencing a rollercoaster because he was telling me that he had never been on one.  We went to bed not really knowing what town we were in because we forgot the name but somehow slept for a few hours before waking up at 4am.  We half showered in a bucket with the warm water they were so kind to warm up for us Obronis.  We were supposed to leave at 4:30 but instead waited until about 6am…that’s GMT for you (Ghana man time).  Then we went to the road where one tro tro and taxi were and his family was all gathering for the journey.  All of us got in the taxi and awhile later we finally took off.  We stopped to get the rest of the people in another tro tro and taxi which took about another hour at least and then stopped about 30 more times (bathroom breaks on the side of the road, oil ran out, lost…really really lost x25 times, tires pumped up, you name it…).  At one point the driver (the grooms brother) stopped on a road and said “We are waiting for them” but we knew we were way way lost and they were trying to find us.  We were kind of glad for the break from the blasting Twi radio though.  Good thing white people stand out or I don’t think they would have seen us and found us.  I pinched myself just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. 

Finally we arrived about 10:30am and although the invitation said 6am, we were EARLY at 10:30am.  That’s GMT for you…The bride’s family fed us delicious and spicy food and we think goat in a back room and Dennis said that he wanted us to help with the program.  There is so much tradition in the engagement ceremony that was really fun to watch.  So I learned to say the Reverend and Vice’s names and then announced them.  We all got to sit behind the bride and groom as guests of honor and then we did a dance after the bride and grooms dance.  After the last funeral we all decided the next time we danced we would all do the Macarena so we got up and did that and then broke into freestyle dance.  Some of the family got up to join us in the dance, especially Aunti, party woman!  Then they had a dance competition and Chelsea won against Aunti and another Aunt, but we decided to not take the alcohol she won even though the drunk reverend said it was nonalcoholic.  

Yvonne, one of the teachers was also continuing to travel since the teachers are on strike this week so she helped us get to the right tro tros to continue to Accra.  This time coming to Accra I felt like I was going back to a first world country, it seemed so nice compared to the first night we were there.  Amazing how our perception has changed after being out “in the bush”. 

Sunday we were able to attend church in one of the nicest wards in Ghana and they even spoke English most of the time!  It was great and wow, those members have such strong testimonies.  One of the interns that served his mission in Sierra Leone had a companion in the ward.  Funny enough, even Stephen Abu Sr’s brother was in the ward (We are living with them here in Abomosu) and we made many other connections.  It is such a small world…

We tro tro’d back and the first tro tro leg was great because it was more of a van and supposedly had A/C.  After being clocked at customs he convinced the police we were going to church so that’s why we were speeding so much.  And for some reason they believed him and let him go for cheap!

Also...prior to the trip we experienced our first flat taxi tire on only our third taxi ride in Ghana coming home from the high school in a far away village.  This was quite the set up they had and after seeing them fix the tire it made me feel real safe about them driving...haha  

So its back to work for a week and a half except the primary school for a few days since they are on strike until we are planning to travel to Cape Coast!  

Akwaba (Welcome) to Ghana Obroni (White man)!

After 30+ hours on a plane, and sleeping about 3 hours, meeting lots of new people, I stepped out of the plane and hello humidity, hello Ghana! 

The road to Asunafo!

We arrived in Abomosu the following day, a village, and I love it here!  We live “in the bush” as they say.  So if anyone ever offers you “bush meat”, you may want to think twice.  All the children shout “Obroni, Obroni” 24/7 because we are white and we say “Obebini” (Black man).  For the first couple of days, the noise at night was very different between the roosters, crickets, goats, birds, and who knows what else.  Nothing sleeps here as far as I can tell except maybe between 2am and 4am!  But now I can sleep no problem, especially after walking for 10 miles a day.  We are staying with the Abu’s, and only Stephen is here right now and Hannah and George cook for us.  They are the most charitable people, and our family. 

After about 1 week!

We have gotten the classes all set up and we taught last week even!  Our classes are about 1-1.5 hours away by walk and my Chaco lines are looking pretty good.  Sweat has taken on a whole new definition!  Except one time we took the “tro tro” (basically imagine a hippie bus jam packed with people cruising through a road with potholes everywhere…and me in the back seat of the 3 benches between 3 farmers) since Stephen was in and stopped even though I said "No ride, no ride" because I didn't know he was in there.  He got out and said, "Rachel, are you scared"?  When I saw him we said "Oh it is you!"  One village we are setting up the program for the first time so we met with the chiefs, elders, and all the people in the town hall last week.  I am pretty excited to teach them.  The only downside to the classes is Ghana time…2pm class to them means 3pm, 4pm, 5pm….but they are getting better. 

We are also teaching at the World Joy RC school to the kids.  I am teaching level four in the primary school, and after arriving I was told to teach so I asked for a book and 2 hours later…!  It was pretty good though because me and the teacher taught together so the kids could understand.  The teachers have a very good relationship with the interns though and so they came last week to invite us to the traditional wedding for the engagement of one of the teachers.  Next weekend we will travel with them to attend, I am excited! 

Visiting a school in one of the villages we teach business classes.  I will have to get a picture of the class we teach soon!

Yesterday we went to two funerals with Stephen.  When you come in you have to shake everyone’s hands, even if there is 100 people.  At one, we even danced!  Country swing.  They all went wild to say the LEAST and everyone dances because it is a celebration.  That was quite the experience, I had no idea what we were signing up for going to a funeral.  There are tons of funerals here as far as I can tell and everyone wears their black and red dresses so maybe we will get one of those. 

The church here is growing so fast and the members are very humble.  Usually half is in English so that makes it easier to understand.  The singing this week with the piano sounded much better than acapella last week, but some do not know English so we are just happy for them to sing!  We just help wherever they need each week for the most part, the primary kids are big fans of Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam even though we sing and they just jump and say BEAM!

So I am an African Woman!  Akosua is my name since I was born on Sunday, my hair is African (after 6 hours of braiding) and weighs about 10 pounds more, I drank my first coconut, drink oranges, eat plenty pineapple, Red Red, Fufu (even with our hands), dream the way they speak, and say Medasi (Thank you)! 

After 6 hours, apparently to finish they put some sort of wax or oil and then torch your hair!